Film Night: The Quiet Mantis and Iron Mantis 3

 

Why settle for one dreadful pun when you can have two?

Reinforcements for the Mantis Warriors, hot on the heels of the expansion of Hive Fleet Afanc. As payment for my services for his recent scenery commission, Stylus more or less insisted that I take two units of scouts. "You need scouts," he told me, and he didn't sound minded to argue.

"It rattles when I shake it, Sarge, I think something's come loose."

Well, he's probably right. Cheap and extremely handy for infiltrating on objectives, they're certainly hard to turn down for the Marines these days. In cover, they can be a bit of a bugger to shift, and if an extra unit of bolters doesn't usually turn the tide of a game, neither can it be ignored while whatever you've saved your points to buy rumbles ominously out of the backfield. 

Quite old models, now, these. Still pretty decent, although the weapons are on the extreme end of the scale, even for GW. Those knives! It's no wonder they have ginormous upper arms if that's the cutlery they use. 

Little shout out to Rapid for the Sarge's fiery power sword - he shared a great photo on Instagram the other day that inspired me, somebody's Salamander Captain I think. Mine isn't as molten or smoothly done, but it's the right direction and it wasn't too hard to do, either. 

Two scout units, but both with bolters? Too identikit. The idea of having one with the shotguns was half-tempting, they're going to end up close where they might be handy. But let's be honest, sniper rifles are too much fun to turn down as an option. 

This meant they needed cloaks and a better heavy weapon, so I hit my conversion desk. Milliput cloaks (rolled thin between sheets of baking paper with a rolling pin, then I cut a paper cloak template to scale and trimmed round it like an elfin tailor, much to my wife's amusement), which are on the heavy side but came out surprisingly well. 

Sniper rifles from leftover Eliminator bits, which are also on the heavy side, but they are heavy weapons, so fair's fair. 

And a good old shark launcher from the classic kit, the last one in my bits box. 

The other part of the payment was this unexpected trio - Inceptors! 

Hands up if you hate GW flight stands? Good, those with your hands up may now execute those who don't. Once you've rinsed your hands, I'll carry on. These are set in deep drill holes in the back of the models, and I know they will still break and be a pain in the arse to transport, which is the main reason I didn't really like the models when they came out. 

As usual, I like them better now I've painted some, but the whole Tony Stark vibe still leaves me a bit cold. Not bad on the tabletop, though, and I'll bet they can give someone a bloody nose with the White Scars assault-and-charge rules. Good at harassing, for sure. 

Somehow, the Mantis Warriors have gone from a sidebar army to something that will eventually be well over 3000 points (you can see what's on the way for them on their updated army page). Oops! The Alpha Legion need some attention next, and the Scions haven't had anything new in ages. Not that they need it after their last showing, they'll get big heads. Plenty of time for all that next year, though. Or the year after that, when I've finished all the Necromunda stuff in the backlog...

"I said Stealth Mode Activated, Jackson!"